(Series 16, ep.23) This is going to be a quickie, and late too, thanks to me being in the middle of packing to move house and having internet that works about as often as the HR woman on Holby.

This episode was part 2 of the one started last week and continued with the triple shocking storylines of Jess running her husband over and Ric taking the blame, Zosia making a formal complaint against her father, and Jonny’s out-of-the-blue marriage proposal to Bonny.

Starting with the JonBonJac situation… Mo is going to be Jonny’s best man, which is excellent news because you couldn’t think of anyone better to make a speech and arrange a stag do (plus, Jonny doesn’t have any other friends). On the downside, Discretion is not Mo’s middle name, so it wasn’t long before Jac found out. Was she ruffled or bothered at all? Well, yes she was. But apparently not as R and B as Jonny was – he did his best to make Jac beg him not to marry That Bonnie Creature and marry her instead, but she didn’t, because she’s Jac (and he isn’t Joseph. I’ll never give up on Joseph, you know). So the wedding of the year is still on, Rodolfo’s is booked (or it should be) and Mo is after ideas for her speech. It’s just a shame that Jonny doesn’t seem to know a great deal about his bride-to-be.

It’s a mistake to go into a marriage without fully knowing what you’re getting into. Just ask Jess Kilburn nee Griffin, who found herself with her guts hanging out, her abusive husband on life support and her father possibly facing a manslaughter charge on her behalf. I bet she didn’t see all that coming when she said “I do.” Frankly, it would have been easier for all concerned if the abusive husband had just died, and when he started going “Nnngh!” and only Ric was in the room, Ric hesitated a good long while before calling the crash team. In the end he did what his conscience told him he must do, but he also knew that he had to get Jess away, so he asked Selfie for a few months sabbatical while he gets Jess settled in an undisclosed location with her son. Selfie had a look in the “Fluid Staffing Configurations of Holby Handbook” and said of course, off you pop, it won’t be any problem to fill a consultant surgeon/head of AAU job with no notice at all.

On Keller, it was round two of March v Self, and to cut a long story short, Self won in the sense that a disciplinary panel concluded that he’d acted professionally and she’d acted like a petulant teenager. Really we didn’t need a disciplinary panel to tell us that. Almost every episode involving Saucer at the moment seems to require her to decide a patient needs a psych evaluation, and then discover they actually have a neurological problem. It was the same again this week, but the patient was a vicar who had sexual urges towards the radiant Serena Campbell. I’m not sure whether that really requires a psych evaluation, because she’s lovely, but the nude drawing he did of her on the wall of the Linden Cullen Temple of Anguish was a bit disturbing. It was done in a sketchy sort of style, apart from the eyes – they were unnervingly realistic. It looked like someone had cut peepholes in the wall and real eyes were looking through. It certainly livened up the usually drab LCTA, though.

Next time: With luck I’ll have a proper internet connection again. There’s an “attractive new pharmacist” wandering around AAU; Digby tries to sort Dominic out; and it’s Bonnie’s hen night.

22 responses to “Holby City: The one with the nude portrait of Serena”

I’m going to be a bit po-faced here. Domestic violence is a serious issue. Local police forces, including the Sussex one where I live, have been putting huge efforts in the White Ribbon Campaign to try to tackle abuse http://www.whiteribboncampaign.co.uk/ . I didn’t feel the Holby writers made any efforts to consider what message they were giving about victims (and their children) here. Of course the father wouldn’t have been given custody with Jess’s medical records showing all those previous injuries. At least, someone a bit more informed could have joined in at some point to say something intelligent about the situation. It felt a bit stupid and irresponsible to have a big issue but treat it so frivolously.

Agree with PLA that Serena and her little smirks were the highlight of this week’s episode. I would also agree with the Comment above that Holby seemed to deal with Jess’ abuse in a very crude way – not up to the usual sensitivity of writing that we have loved about Holby.

I initially liked Zosia a lot. The whole “I-hate-you-dad” routine is becoming slightly tedious. How an F1 doctor with that kind of attitude is still walking the wards is beyond me. She may be an excellent diagnostician but I don’t want her treating me. No thanks!

Just what is the point of Colette? I’m praying for a storyline where Keller blows up and wipes her out along with Saucer, Dominic and Self Important. If any Holby writers happen to read this can you just make sure Serena is covering AAU that day please?

But Colette is a robot, so if the place blows up she’ll be the only one left standing. Even though the building will be a smouldering ruin, Holby’s reputation will be secure as it will have been the first hospital to deploy the RoboNurse5000 in a “patient-facing” capacity.

Agree with all the comments above. I thought the issue of domestic violence was quite shoddily dealt with and didn’t quite understand the logic behind Ric getting away without any charges after claiming to have been the driver in the hit and run. It could have been a great storyline but I feel like they botched it.
Who hadn’t guessed that the vicar had a neurological condition? And it’s getting a little strange now that it’s only the junior doctors who make brilliant diagnosis every week now whilst the consultants spend the episode ignoring their theories until 5 minutes before the end when they are forced to acknowledge the genius of their usually emotionally overwrought junior.
Serena was definitely the highlight of the episode.

Can I second the suggestion to blow up Colette? Just Colette though because I think Dominic has the potential to become a super villain… Oh wait! Maybe Colette could be Dastardly Dom’s first victim? And maybe it could happen really really soon and then he could drop an anvil or something on Selfie so Zosia can get back to not being so pathetic. After that maybe Dom could take a trip to AAU and rid of us Raf and his missus who has annoyed me even before she’s arrived. Then Dom could head to Darwin and bump off Jonny…
Was I the only one wishing that bloke had dropped Jonny with more of a thump?
Jac Facetiming baby Emma and Serena’s scenes were the highlights for me. It’s clear that patient storylines are taking a backseat, but I suppose who wants fiddly medical nonsense getting in the way of a “juicy” piece of melodrama, I mean it’s only a medical drama.

I forgot to mention Jac Facetiming Emma – that was so adorable, wasn’t it? Like the episode where she gave birth and we saw her talking to the bump, it was a subtle way to show that she has an affectionate and close relationship with her baby.

It’s moments like that when they really nail Jac’s character. Jac will be a no-frills kind of parent but that doesn’t mean she won’t be a good parent or that she won’t have a beautiful and affectionate relationship with her daughter. Jac dealing with motherhood seems a far more interesting story to me than this cheesy love triangle they’ve been attempting.

Oh my goodness, me too!!!!! The whole Jac/Jonny/Bonnie thing is driving me mad!!! And Jonny’s inexplicable character transformation to his ‘not quite evil’ twin has been something I’ve been moaning about for months, although he seems to have flipped back in more recent weeks!!!

That Bonnie creature, SecretEscapes and Selfie are getting beyond annoying (Selfie managed to turn up in Casualty for Ash’s “tribunal” – again no sign of HR – and irritate the hell out of me there too).

I get that Jonny is trying to make Jac jealous, or at least I think that’s what he’s trying to do, but he’s behaving so far out of character I am praying for another cull of staff through any means possible (like the idea of an exploding Collette!). Are all the writers enjoying Eddie McKee’s secret stash or something?!?

I thought the way they handled the Jess-David-Rick storyline was appalling; in fact everything seems to have gone downhill since Henrik left… did he take all the writing talent with him???

I love how everyone is so irate here. 😛 I thought it was just me. As for the ridiculous writing/storylines, it’s not just limited to the HC writers. It seems 2014 is the year most programmes are gonna suck (with a side of whitewashing/racism in the US/Hollywood).

Oh no, it’s definitely not just you. If you want to get a better feel for how many of the Holby fans are feeling you should head over to the Holby thread on Digital Spy (in the Soap Forum). We’ve all been having a good old moan about what’s been going on…….

I haven’t seen this week’s episode yet (post house-moving chaos) but it doesn’t seem like I’m missing much! I will get round to watching it and posting a review when I’m a bit more sorted out. I’m also well behind with Casualty, but glad I haven’t exposed myself to more Selfie. Obviously will have to watch it for Connie’s reappearance.

Unfortunately Selfie’s in Casualty this week too… states he’s going out for dinner with Connie that night, shouldn’t someone warn her that he’s turning into the original good time had by all??? *shudders*